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Science topics ages 7 - 8
Light and shadows
Curriculum relevance |
Online lesson plan
Offline lesson
plan | Worksheet |
Activity |
Quiz
Online lesson plan
Objectives
Know that light travels from a source
Understand that shadows form when light travelling from a source is
blocked
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National Curriculum
England: Key Stage 2, Science, Sc4 3a, 3b
Wales: Key Stage 2, Physical processes, 3.1, 3.5
Northern Ireland: Key Stage 2, Physical processes, Light, b
Scotland: 5-14 Guidelines, Science, Properties and uses of energy, Level C
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Resources required
Online activity from Science Clips website: Light and shadows
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Teaching activities
Introduction
Tell the children they are going to find out how a shadow changes when the
properties (brightness, position, distance) of a light source are changed.
Bring up the online activity on an interactive whiteboard. Ask the children to
complete predictions. What will happen to the shadow when the light source is
made dimmer? Or when the light source is moved further away? Encourage the
children to discuss their reasoning.
Activities
On the whiteboard, show the whole class how to manipulate the variables: 1)
How to place different objects from the menu onto the screen, 2) How to make
the light source dimmer or brighter, and 3) How to move the light source up and
down or forward and backward.
Once children understand how the activity works, divide them into groups with
a computer for each group and let them work through the tasks on the screen.
Encourage them to try the same actions with different objects. Which objects
make the best shadows?
Plenary
With the activity on the whiteboard, place the toy duck onto the screen and
perform the following actions: 1) Make the light dimmer and brighter, 2) Move
the light forward and backward, 3) Move the light up and down. In each case,
ask the children to explain the effect. Encourage the children to explain both
parts to the observation, e.g. “The dimmer the light source on the opaque
object, the lighter the shadow. The brighter the light source on the opaque
object, the darker the shadow.”
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Extension
Allow children to click on the Outside screen to experiment with how the sun
casts shadows of objects on the ground.
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Suggested homework
With permission and supervision, the children could place different objects
(e.g. rubber duck, glass toys, cutlery, cups and glasses) onto a table at home
and see the shadow change as a light is shone on it in different ways. They
should experiment with turning the light source on and off, making it brighter
and dimmer (if possible), moving it forwards and backwards, and up or down to
see how these changes affect the shadow.
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